BOSTON -- Agatha Tong has always called herself a "rice Catholic."

As a young girl in Hong Kong, missionaries at her local parish provided noodles and other staples to the surrounding community. Her eldest sister attended Catholic school and would tell her family about what she learned. Tong's mother allowed her to attend religious education, and she was baptized at age 10 or 11. She doesn't recall if it was her priest or godmother who gave her the baptismal name of Agatha.

To this day, whenever she feels tempted, Tong thinks of St. Agatha and how she "stayed very strong."

"She doesn't want to disown her faith," Tong said, "so that's why I would remember her and ask her for that."

Tong's faith grew after she came to Boston in 1963 at age 12.

"My family was looking for American education, better life for us," she said.

Tong has been involved for over 60 years with the two historic hubs of the Archdiocese of Boston's Chinese Catholic community: the now-defunct Maryknoll Center and St. James the Greater Parish, both in Boston's Chinatown.

For her decades of volunteering in the parish, she was one of 151 people to receive Cheverus Awards in 2023. Named for Boston's first bishop, the awards honor dedication to the archdiocese.

"It's an honor," Tong said, "but what I've been doing is really God's gift to me, the opportunity for me to learn, to continue to learn, and to be closer to him at every time."

Over the years, Tong has taught CCD classes and about the spirituality of the saints. She has served on the Parish Council, as its vice chair, and with the Hospitality Group and the Social Life Committee.

"Agatha was one of the first parishioners of Chinese descent in the Chinese community," Father Joseph Zhang, pastor of St. James, wrote in his form nominating Tong for the award.

Father Zhang also noted that Tong "welcomed and built up different ethnic groups into St. James" and "assisted the parish priests in reaching out to different Chinese language speakers and uniting them into one community of faith."

Initially, most Chinese Catholics and immigrants in Boston were Taishanese speakers from southern China. Today, parishioners speak Taishanese, Cantonese (like Tong), Mandarin, or Fujianese.

"It's not a dialect that makes us a community," Tong said. "It should be the faith that combines, that unites us, period. So that's how it is. We just have to reach out and be there for each other and with each other and be willing to extend ourselves."

She said the parish needs to be "linguistically transparent" because people won't feel welcome if they don't understand, and won't return.

"Language can be the uniting factor, but it can also be a segregating factor," she said.

Tong spent several years teaching English to new Chinese immigrants. She helps newcomers understand Boston's school system and find social services in their language.

"It gives me the chance to know God more," she said about volunteering. "That's the bottom line, because every time I can encounter and do something, it reminds me of what God means by service and sharing love. Despite, and I want to be honest, despite my fumbles, despite my failures from time to time, and I do have those, but it does help me to get to know God every time."

Tong was one of six children born to "ultra traditional" parents who limited her time outside. Her daily routine was to go to school, then back home. Her family was "not well-to-do," and she and her peers played simple games using everyday objects like rice bags. After settling in Boston, her family moved to Milford, where her father had a laundry business.

"It was not fun," she said of adjusting to a new culture.

Unlike Boston, Milford had few immigrants and was less accepting of diversity. She was teased at school, but said her brother's experience was worse.

"It was hard on all of us," she said. "It was really hard for my mom."

On Sundays, the Tongs would take the bus to the Maryknoll Center on Tyler Street, where Mass was celebrated for Chinese Catholics. Tong's faith was strengthened by their example.

"One thing I learned and use is witnessing our generations since I came here ages ago," she said.

Mass used to be celebrated in English by priests who didn't speak Chinese.

"I witnessed our parishioners, particularly the older generations, how they were faithful," Tong said. "They would come to church. They would not know any of the English words, but they would participate in the praying, they participate in the retreats, they participate in developing their own faith."

After graduating high school in Milford, Tong studied recreation therapy at Northeastern. She worked as a therapist in nursing homes while continuing to study education at Cambridge College. She went on to earn a master's degree in social work from Boston College and became a social worker in Boston Public Schools. In 1993, she married her husband, Joseph, at St. James. She retired from full-time work in 2020 but continues part-time as a BPS social worker. She said her faith influences her approach to her work.

"I think it's the teaching of how to share difficulties, how to share challenges with as much understanding and as much compassion as possible," she said.

When unsure how to communicate with a student or family, she asks God for help.

"I know I have fumbled, too, so I can only pray to do what I can, that I can listen and hear what is going on," she said.

She prays for humility and the ability to listen to others, seeking God's message through them.

Recently, Tong has been organizing a group of volunteers at St. James to visit homebound parishioners.

"It's connection, letting them know they're not forgotten," she said. "And we are the human beings that can physically say you're not forgotten, but in truth, how to relate that in a spiritual way, to let them know God has not forgotten them."

St. James's Cantonese community is aging and declining. Less Chinese immigration to Boston has slowed the parish's growth. However, St. James has many young families. As Tong spoke to The Pilot, the sounds of children laughing and playing could be heard from the parish hall. She hopes the parish will continue to foster the faith, and appreciation of Chinese Catholic culture, in young people for generations.

She plans to volunteer as long as she can. During the COVID-19 pandemic, unable to attend Mass at St. James, she went to her local parish in Framingham and noticed that the lectors, cantor, and pianist were all her age.

"God is having all of us participate, no matter how old or young or whatever," she said. "Then why should I not do it as well?"